When stumped with research or feeling that I need to take a break from specific persons or families, I often browse the online newspapers archived through Google. It’s fascinating to read about the worlds in which our ancestors survived–to connect their lives and backgrounds to historical events or find interesting tidbits that affected their societies and ways of life.

These past few days, I stumbled on a tragic story that affected the entire Polish community in Toledo, particularly the St. Anthony’s parish community. On Sunday, May 3, 1903, a large group of Poles from the Toledo area traveled via railroad to Detroit to attend a festival at St. Joseph’s church in Detroit. Many of these travelers were from St. Anthony’s parish. It seems as if none of the victims were part of my family; but no doubt, my family would have known many of them. Perhaps someone reading here will recognize a name and be able to make a connection to their family.

After a day of festivities, the group gathered at Canfield St. in Detroit about 8p.m. to return to Toledo. Although this was not a regular stop for the train, it seems as if it was a stop scheduled for that day in anticipation of the large gathering for the festival. However, according to michiganrailroads.com:

“This was not a regular station stop and the train apparently did not send out an employee to flag the track. At 8:30 p.m., a GTW train from Chicago was heading for Brush Street station. It was most likely No. 8. The crew knew nothing abut the train at Canfield Avenue until they were right on top of it and had no chance to stop the train in time. Hearings showed that the crew on the excursion train were all “off the extra board” and not acquainted with the area and took too much for granted.”

Many persons were injured or killed in this train wreck, nearly all of whom were parishioners of St. Anthony’s. The Toledo News Bee on May 4 and May 5 followed the events and provided the names of the injured and killed. I’ve provided links to the archived stories. While the copy is not perfect, it is fairly readable and too big of a job to transcribe for here. However, here is a list of names that of those injured or killed as was posted in the May 4 edition of the News Bee. (I’ve transcribed the names below, but have not transcribed the description of injuries. Unless noted, victims were from Toledo–a few victims from Detroit were also listed in the article.)

John Malkoski, about 35 years old, 1115 Campbell street, was leading 10-year-old daughter who cannot be found

Mary Shafranski, 113 Campbell street, had baby in arms when hit and baby is missing

Joseph Jakrziski, 1000 Dubois street (Detroit)

Peter Orzechonski, 1226 Campbell street, his wife and two children, Mrs. Orzechonski dangerously and may die

James Powlocyk, 1215 Hamilton street

Mike Broski, 1715 Austin street

Chester Palicki

Stanislaus Sarnowski, 1307 Hamilton street

On May 5, the News Bee published an updated list of victims.

Toledo News Bee 05 May 1903 Railroad accident victims

The Dead:

Joseph Szaruleta, 407 Junction avenue

Walter Ludwick, of Junction avenue

Frank Rozinski, 1465 Vance street

Mrs. Frank Rozinski, 1465 Vance street

Mrs. Helen Palicka, Lagrange street

Anthony Popek, aged 24 years, Tecumseh street

Ladislaw Sobieralski, boy, 13 years old

Stanislaus Orzechowski

Frank Jablonski, married, Campbell street

Toledo News Bee, 05 May 1903, railroad accident victims

Toledo News Bee, 05 May 1903, railroad accident victims

The Injured

Mrs. Mike Stelmaszak, 1417 Forrer street

Baby Orzechowski (injured head, and article states that it was predicted that the child would die)

Mike Broski, Langrange street, age 18

Joseph Szafianski, Campbell street, married

John Malkowski, Campbell street

Miss Helen Rodziewiez, Lagrange street

Rosa Adamski, Blum street

Mrs. Frank Otremba, Detroit ave. (of Toledo)

Salomea Witkowska, Blum street

John Krynski, Forrer street, 18 years old

Vincent Pawlaczyk, 1215 Hamilton street

Peter Orzechowski, Campbell street

Mrs. Peter Orzechowski

The stories provided by the News Bee are incredibly detailed. I encourage anyone interested in this story to read it directly from the the news archive. Reading these scans sometimes is difficult (I so empathize–I have poor eyesight so I want to transcribe whenever possible, but the job is too big to do so for a blog post)–but the stories would provide some genealogical detail for family members. I’ve posted a few of the pictures of the persons involved in this accident as well below.